Last month, I had a privilege to host a panel on Comics with local Vancouver cartoonists and artists for the Canadian book design recognizing, Alcuin Society. I was joined by Sarah Leavitt, Nick Bantock and Johnnie Christmas. It was a fun conversation.
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Tillie is a cartoonist from Austin, Texas who has released three books over the past two years from the UK publisher Avery Hill. The first was THE END OF SUMMER, a gorgeous story of a family who is about to lock themselves into a giant, maze-like mansion at the beginning of a three-year winter. I would’ve been curious to talk to her based on that dream-like family epic alone, but then she released two follow-up books in short order. I LOVE THIS PART, a short, gutwrenching story of two friends in high school who find and lose love that feels like you are reading the comics version of a whistful pop song. For this year’s TCAF, Walden released A CITY INSIDE, a dreamy comic that manages to feel loose and airy, while displaying her trademark laser-guided drawing chops and almost feels like a guided meditation through the artist’s mind. We also talk about her upcoming book for First Second, tentatively entitled SPINNING, a 400pp memoir of her experience as a competitive figure skater through grade and high school.
She also recently started a Patreon where she does intricate and beautiful, dream-like daily diary comics, which you should absolutely check out. She also has a new webcomic starting soon, which you can check out here – http://www.onasunbeam.com/
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Cartoonist and publisher Kevin Czap joined me to talk about the new Kickstarter for his 2017 releases by other artists. His latest book Fütchi Perf is a fantastic collection exploring some really forward looking story telling techniques. It’s a fantastic book.
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I talked to Lawrence “Rawdog” Hubbard about his new collection from Fantagraphics. Real Deal collects the first seven issues of his self published series Real Deal. Originally concieved with writing partner, HP McElwee aka “RD Bone”, Real Deal is one of the most intense visceral comics I have read in a while. Coming out the early 90s in LA, Real Deal is a violent masterpiece. Not for the easily upset. Fans of Ben Marra should check this out.
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Powerhouse cartoonist team, Leslie Hung and Bryan Lee O’Malley, join guest host Sloane Leong at SDCC to talk about their new debut comic SNOTGIRL! Leslie is an elegant illustrator and consummate cartoonist and Bryan’s virtuoso comic storytelling voice rings out strong as ever in this unique comic collaboration.
What happens when two cartoonists go for smoothies and talk comics. While Becca Tobin was in town for Vancaf, occasional Inkstuds co-host Brandon Graham met up with her talk about her great comics and paintings. Becca has a book from the great Frontier series out of Youth In Decline. Becca has since returned to the UK and continues to do amazing work.
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With the recent passing of cartoonist Geneviève Castrée, I thought it would be a good week to skip regular scheduled programing and revisit this interview. I really enjoyed it and got a lot out of the conversation. We discuss her graphic novel from Drawn and Quarterly, Susceptible. It’s a Canadian great. I found it really impactful personally on a number of different levels. Geneviève had a unique role in comics, following a variety of personal artistic applications, not just visually, but also with haunting and beautiful music. All of her work seems to compliment one another. Geneviève leaves behind a husband and young daughter. He had organized a gofundme campaign that is still accepting donations. I strongly suggest doing so. Health and social care in the united states are horribly lacking in supporting the basic human needs of vulnerable peoples.
I had been a fan of Brendan McCarthy’s work for quite a long time. Back when I was a teenager working in a comic store in the mid 90s, seeing the Shade covers he was doing were a revelation of this other weird world in comics that we weren’t seeing in my suburban-Canadian-West Coast comic store. I had followed his work as it appeared across my hands, in his own DC Solo book and the eventual massive Milligan/McCarthy Collection from Dark Horse, featuring a wide range of their weirdo collaboration comics (all the while not knowing that he had spent several years living in Vancouver working on the ReBoot cartoon). He has since been a key hand in the design and look of the latest Mad Max movie, Fury Road. Most recently is the Dream Gang graphic novel, collecting work that originally appeared in Dark Horse Presents. Brendan has a lot to say about comics, life and a variety of wide topics.
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We’re back to talk to Gabby Schulz aka Ken Dahl, author of the collection WELCOME TO THE DAHL HOUSE published by Microcosm in 2007, the Ignatz award-winning book MONSTERS from Secret Acres in 2009, recently back in print in a handsome new edition, and SICK, out this month from Secret Acres.
SICK is the story of the author being laid down by an illness in his cramped Brooklyn apartment. The story begins as a Kafka-esque exploration of the trials and tribulations of trying to attain treatment without having the insurance or money to do so, but soon morphs into a brutally frank self-assessment of not only the narrator’s personal failures, but also the failures of predominantly white Western culture and the systems and structures we’re all beholden to and a part of.
There was a lot to talk about with this book and I thank Gabby for taking the time.
Full disclosure – Secret Acres also publishes my work and they paid me tens of dollars to give SICK a review through rose-colored lenses. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.
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About a month ago, my father had a very massive stroke. Because he lives so remotely, he wasn’t able to get that stroke treatment that can mitigate the effects of the bleeding on the brain. He is now at the Victoria General Hospital going through an impressive rehab regime to try and recover as much as he can from the damage to his brain. He has major deficits physically, cognitively and in speech.
My dad has always been a very talkative intelligent man with a lot to say. Seeing him reduced to speaking in gibberish and getting easily lost in conversation has been one of the more shocking things about the transformation. It’s a process of mourning the loss of the man that was and dealing with the needs of the life for the man now. Stroke recovery is very mysterious. You really have no idea how a person will recover and to point the brain will come back.
My sister and I both live in Vancouver, which has meant caring for his needs have been especially difficult. Local friends and family in Victoria have been tremendous in helping with visits and supporting us when we are over there. Hopefully when he is done his rehab, we can move him over to the mainland, but that process is another hurdle that we need to climb.
The whole experience has been challenging, overwhelming and heart breaking. We are having to take a man who has been very independent his whole life and boil it down to essentials. At the same time, going through a mountain of paperwork just to figure out his life and where everything is at.
It’s a very difficult time for me and my sister. Some folks try to tell me to look on the bright side, and frankly, there are very little bright sides right now. It’s brutal. Please understand if I don’t feel like talking about it.
Thankfully some great folks have stepped in to cover the inkstuds for me over the next while. When I am not focused on my dad or my day job, I am trying to focus on my own health and making it through the point in time. I don’t talk about family often, because in a lot of ways, my family is a weird abstract concept that is difficult to navigate.
I hope to start doing interviews again within the next couple of months, but I can’t make any promises.
Many of the recordings from the first couple of years of inkstuds live on air are thanks to my dad recording them from the CiTR internet broadcast. Before they had a solid plan for recording shows for podcasting.
